"This is not the first time he has hit a bank in Ottawa," Larouche said. "There is no way of saying for sure, but sometimes descriptions given by witnesses bear some similarity and a hijab is sort of out of the ordinary."

That hint of an answer is found in what happens when intransigent bureaucracy (the federal Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, or INAC) meets stubborn and hypersensitive first nation, in this instance the Pikangikum band.

And what happens, as Ontario Superior Court Judge John dePencier Wright found, is … nothing.

The professional standards investigation found the employee, whose name it would not disclose, had spent 176 hours — about four and a half work weeks — on the Internet over a three-month period. A search of his CBSA e-mail account found he had used it to send and receive explicit descriptions and photos, including pictures of genitalia and sex acts.

“He exchanges e-mails with interested parties and gives detailed descriptions of himself, including his sexual organs,” the investigation report says.

CBSA officials are responsible for stopping obscene materials from entering the country. The agency often highlights its involvement in intercepting child pornography brought across the border.

I'm with Mark the Mouth... I say we give each & every prisoner in federal lockup as much heroinas they want... every freakin' day of the week...

“We didn’t get into specifics,” said Liberal public safety critic Mark Holland when asked if his party would support needle exchanges or safe injection sites in prisons. “We’re simply saying to the government they have to do more.”

Heck, let's thrown in a Sunday special... say, amphetamines, tequila & hookers... just to break up the monotony.

30 December 2010

...of firefighters cutting mangled bodies out of cars to appear at pedestrian crossings... or on cases of beer. How about we start putting pictures of horribly burned people on the side of woodstoves?

Do they have dioramas of smelly, emaciated junkies at safe-injection sites? I mean, seriously... what kind of moron doesn't know that injecting/ingesting liberal doses of chemical poisons isn't good for you?

More to the point... isn't this type of self-destructive behaviour just nature's way of thinning out the herd? Why is it the taxpayer's responsibility to shell out billions of dollars annually to remediate this type of self-involved, self-inflicted immolation?

The larger question here, though... has to be... "Why would a truly Conservative government... a government that ostensibly respects the intelligence of the people... buy into this condescending propaganda shithole?"

And don't give me your sanctimonious "save the children" yip-yap. If your kid is an alcoholic, junkie, promiscuous, gang-bangin' fuckup... it isn't because the government let them down... it's because you failed as a parent.

If you're not prepared to put in the time and do the job properly... don't have children. It's that simple.

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RELATED: Something to think about...

...the next time you're stuck waiting in the local hospital emergency room for seven hours...

When the nurse asks him why he's using, he mumbles: “Experimentation, I suppose.” She doesn't ask if he's injected drugs before. She simply mixes up the stuff, ties off his unmarked arm and shows him how to find a good vein.

On a personal note... I bet Dalton McGuinty doesn't have to wait months to see a urologist.

-- WASHINGTON -- US President Barack Obama has bypassed the US Senate and directly appointed four new ambassadors, including Robert Ford, who will become the first US envoy to Syria since 2005.

In the most high-profile case, that of the new envoy to Syria, a number of senators objected because they believed sending an ambassador to the country would reward it for bad behavior.

The administration had argued that returning an ambassador to Syria after a five-year absence would help persuade Syria to change its policies regarding Israel, Lebanon and Iraq as well as its willingness to support extremist groups.

Of course... you mention Syria, the first words that come to anyone's mind are reasonable & accomodating.

Syria is designated a "state sponsor of terrorism" by the State Department.

29 December 2010

Running a couple million dollars worth of healthcare commercials... isn't the same thing as actually providing healthcare. It's not what you say... it's what you do that counts.

Actually, let me be a little more specific than that. Today I took Mrs. Neo into Belleville so we could get the paperwork to apply for a SIN number for the boy. No big deal, right?

Wrong.

Now, how this works, in Belleville anyway... is that you take a number and go sit and wait to be called to the desk. Unfortunately, as is standard government practice, there are never enough front line clerks... so Mrs. N had a 30 minute wait... to pick up a piece of paper. I don't know why we were so naive, the dozens of poor sods sitting in the waiting area should have been a tip-off.

It gets better. Even though this place is called Service Ontario... they apparently are unable to actually provide the applications for something as esoteric as Social Insurance numbers.

When Mrs. N was impertinent enough to point out that the Service Ontario pamphlet she had taken from a nearby table and had been reading to pass the time said otherwise... well, that was just an unfortunate mistake.

So, even though the Liberals made a screamin' big deal about recently centralising all the government services in one location in downtown Belleville... there is apparently some other location that handles SIN numbers. Once again... they lied right to our faces.

As far as I'm concerned, they should actually call this place Disservice Ontario.

Some ten unidentified gunmen on Thursday set Erika Gandara's home ablaze and torched two cars parked outside before abducting her, witnesses told the state of Chihuahua prosecutor's office.

Gandara was the last police officer in Guadalupe, located on the US-Mexico border some 60 kilometres south-east of Ciudad Juarez, after her colleagues either resigned and fled or were killed.

The town, population 9000, is in an area frequently used by traffickers to smuggle drugs into the United States.

Not your problem, right? You just want a little inexpensive downtime.

Nationwide, more than 28,000 people have been killed in drug gang violence since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed soldiers to battle the cartels in their strongholds in northern Mexico and along the Pacific coast.

-- MONTREAL -- Attachment to Canada has waned dramatically among young Quebecers: only 18 per centof those age 18-24 report strong feelings of attachment to the country — a cause for concern for the future of national unity, Jedwab said.

Seniors are the only age group where attachment to Canada is strong, with 49 per cent of those 65 and over describing themselves as strongly attached to the country.

...a 747 drops out of the sky and flattens your entire family... and as tragic as this incident is... it was, unfortunately... entirely preventable, and more to the point, entirely predictable...

In fact... just last month, the very same thing happened to a man entering an underground parking garage in downtown Toronto. The simple fact is, you never, never, ever... lean out of the door of your car while the transmission is engaged. The risk of falling out of the vehicle... or, as in these two very recent cases, being crushed in the door opening is a very clear & present danger.

Perhaps the media, instead of trying to portray this thing as an "Act of God"... might alert people to the actual issue here. Whatever happened to... "if it saves just one life?"

The 7-foot-tall statue of1st Lt. Neil Bucken holding an actual red rose arrived late Wednesday at his relatives' Staten Island home, a day before his 11-year-old sister's birthday, and in the nick of time for Christmas.

"Half the family was all bawling their eyes out," said his mom, Donna McBrien.

26 December 2010

-- MONTREAL -- Preteens dabbling in vandalism, bullying and truancy are more likely to be in trouble with the law as teenagers, according to a new study by Montreal researchers.

The more troubled kids – the ones who regularly stole, destroyed property, bullied other kids and got into fights – were found to be six times more likely to sell drugs, eight times more likely to be arrested, nine times more likely to join a gang and 11 times more likely to carry a weapon as teenagers than their peers.

Hmmm... if only we were able to identify that particular troubling demographic and target it with all our resources.

The youngest killed by bullets in 2010 were Sealand White and Devonte Gondwe-Prosper — both 15.

Oh, right... I forgot.

We're not even allowed to talk about this stuff.

**********

RELATED: C'mon... spit it out

"Congratulations Ms. Chi, as the leading Oriental and homosexual candidate we are pleased to offer you employment..."

A Christmas killing at a west-end highrise brings the city’s murder count to an even 60 for the year.

Gunshots rang out shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday at 200 Woolner Ave., off Jane St. a block north of St. Clair Ave. W.

**********

RELATED: Paging Inspector Clouseau

-- TORONTO -- More than 100 firefighters were needed early Monday to tame a five-alarm blaze at a west end house that had been targeted in a drive-by shooting and a Molotov cocktail attack earlier this month.

The flames broke out around 10pm Sunday night at 489 Winona Dr., near Vaughan Road and Oakwood Avenue.

This is, I believe... the first time in four years that I've taken a week away from the keyboard... and it has, apparently, done me no lasting harm. You can get too used to screaming into the whirlwind, I think.

Anyway... the stockings are hung and we await the hopefully not-too-early appearance of The Boy. It seems like just yesterday we were rocking his world with toy trains or a tricycle... but these days he leans heavily towards consumer electronics.

So... to all of you who sometimes stop by to share a moment... Merry Christmas... and all the best to you and yours.

**********

BOXING DAY UPDATE:

Because Neophyte continues to be both a civilised human being and a solid A-B student... he & I got up at 05:00 today... ran down into Belleville and iced his Christmas cake with an Ipod Touch.

19 December 2010

Cpl. Steve Martin, 24, from 3rd Battalion Royal 22e Regiment, was killed by an improvised explosive device, or IED, while on foot patrol early Saturday afternoon, local time.

The bombing that killed Cpl. Martin preceded a suicide attack Saturday on the vehicle of an Afghan district chief in the Canadian area of operations.

The attack on District Governor Hamdullah Nazik happened when a car packed with explosives tried to ram his vehicle as he drove home. The bomber missed and plowed into bystanders killing two people, including a child, and wounding 11 others.

Julian Assange has his own embarrassing e-mails. The lovesick WikiLeaks founder sent a 19-year-old girl a series of gross-out messages for 10 days until he finally heeded her pleas to go away.

"You pulled a tiny petal off my world just when I thought you were to add one but all around is the meadow, where I shall again dance and skip and sing till some fool girl should brush my wing. Julian."

16 December 2010

Just something to think about... the next time you're wading through your income tax forms...

-- (CNSNews.com) -- Sen. Jeff Session (R.-Ala.) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that there is “no way” someone could master the full 1,924-page, $1.1 trillionomnibus spending bill before Congress votes on it later this week.

“There’s no way you can really thoroughly master that bill in two or three days time, to tell you the truth.”

Other senators said they were working through the bill with their staff, and one remarked he would be “lucky” if he was able to read all of it.

And then, try to imagine all the other items that never make the front page.

**********

UPDATE: The pot starts to boil

-- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats controlling the Senate have abandoned a 1,924-page catchall spending measure that's laced with homestate pet projects known as earmarks and that would have provided another $158 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

I thought "earmark" was how Jean Chretien used to summon Marc Lalonde.

15 December 2010

-- Dec. 15, 2010 -- Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said the austerity measures aimed at eliminating waste and finding savings are necessary to help the province manage through hard times and erase its record $18.7-billion deficit.

Hard times, huh?

-- Oct. 31, 2009 -- Premier Dalton McGuinty is defending an untendered, $81-million contract for an energy centre built to power a casino in Windsor.

"Size is extremely important to the effectiveness. The larger the size, the greater the impact. Health Canada has done some excellent research, it's a matter of public record."

**********

MY PERSONAL OPINION: Thinning the herd

It's a free country, it's not illegal... but if I were supreme dictator and for as long as we have publicly financed healthcare... every smoker in the land would be forced to wear a "Darwin was Right" t-shirt to purchase these things.

The remains of a Turkish diplomat buried in Canada were reportedly forcibly removedfrom a local cemetery after a prominent Christian family said they weren’t comfortable praying next to a Muslim grave.

Arthur MacDonald, described by the paper as a businessman belonging to “one of Toronto’s leading families,” said he objected to the fact that Mr. Dayioglu had been buried next to his mother and his cousin.

King’s quest for a healthier eating option while behind bars ended with a county lawyer forced to research theorigin of Festivusand its traditions and a Superior Court judge recognizing the holiday – which lodged its place in pop culture on an episode of Seinfeld – as a legitimate religion.

"Abdulwahab, O beloved, I do not know him, yet when I saw his picture I adored him ... Get ready for punishment, woe to the debauched countries, from the curse of Taymour, and the anger of his companions who are brave as tigers."

It'll be interesting to see how diligent the CBC & CTV are about exploring this guys political connections...

-- VANCOUVER -- A 42-year-old former political staffer with Vancouver's COPE party has been arrested and charged in connection with three terrifying child rapes over the past 15 years — one involving a six-year-old victim.

Irrelevant, you say?

Hmmm, as I recall... it seemed to be pretty much front and center... when a serial killer was being tenuously linked to the Conservative Party of Canada.

Or how about last weeks nonsensical stories about "once upon a time" Harper advisor Professor Tom Flanagan being a one-man assassination squad?

After graduating from UBC Theatre in 2002, Ibata went on a political detour and worked as a personal assistant to lawyer and Vancouver City Councillor Tim Louis, as well as Councillors Ellen Woodsworth, Tim Stevenson, and Dr. Fred Bass.

In 2005, Ibata was hired by the Coalition of Progressive Electors as a political organizer, and helped lead the organization into the November 2005 Civic Election. Ibata also worked on the 2005/2006 Federal election campaign as the Database Manager for the NDP in Vancouver Centre.

Ibata currently runs RhythmNation.ca, a local event production and DJ company, and has now returned to COPE – just in time for the 2008 election!

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THANK YOU COMMENT MODERATION:

"I can now call you a nazi because of your use of Big Lie techniques. Hahahahahahahahaahhaha!"Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 7:02 PM, December 14, 2010

-- BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber blew up his car Sunday outside government offices in a province west of the Iraqi capital, killing 17 people, including women and elderly people waiting to collect welfare checks, officials said.

At least 23 people also were wounded in Sunday's blast, according to the officials.

**********

UPDATE: Maybe there is a gawd, huh?

The theory of an accidental detonation appeared to have gained some traction with the police.

The two explosions set off by the Stockholm bomber occurred on side streets crossing the pedestrian mall called Drottninggatan, the city’s principal shopping street, and suggested that a catastrophic outcome had been narrowly averted.

You wanna discourage bad behaviour... you bring down the full weight of the law...

A Thai official told the National Post that Thailand had arrested a Canadian citizen, who was then “handed over” to Canadian authorities. The official did not want to be named and said the case was considered classified and active.

"For years, I’ve been hearing tales of political correctness gone amokat OISE, including radical anti-Israeli events. But it took the Peto case to really get me probing around to see what else is going on at OISE."

**********

RELATED: And Marshall McLuhan wept...

Lee came from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he spent nearly five years researching thelives of rappers in South Central Los Angeles. He is under contract with the University of Chicago Press to turn his thesis, "Rap Dreams," into a book.

Lee is what could be called a hot ticket. The day before we met, he had just agreed to an assistant professorship at the University of Toronto. Toronto has agreed to let him stay in Philadelphia for another year so he can stick with the gunshot victims he is tracking.

“It’s pretty amazing to see such a wild animal in this sort of an unusual setting, really,” said Wortman, pointing at Bailey and Jim Sautner in the bar. “Bailey is a little frisky at times, but it’s amazing how tame he is.”

Moon Run Fire Chief Paul Kashmer tells WPXI-TV that the girl didn't seem upset by the ordeal Wednesday night in the food court at the Mall of Robinson, in Robinson Township. Kashmer says firefighters arrived to find "the cutest little girl in a pink outfit sucking her binky inside with the other toys."

The girl apparently climbed up the chute into which the coin-operated crane drops prizes. Kashmer used a tool to pry open a door on the machine to reach the girl.

Pastors and other leaders of the black community are appealing to young men to put their weapons down and stop killing each other following gunplay in which two men were shot in Whitby.

Twenty-six of 29 men killed by guns in Toronto were young blacks and they left behind families and friends who suffer, members of the group pointed out.

**********

LAST WORD: And the struggle continues...

Two men were hurt, one critically, when officers from York Region opened fire on a mini van in the west end of Toronto early Friday.

Police say the officers involved in the shooting were members of the Hold-up Squad working undercover to track down suspects behind a recent rash of armed gas station heists that began last month across the GTA.

Nope... obviously the Natural Governing Party has other pressing priorities...**********

RELATED: Mirror, mirror, on the wall

And hey... how about that Chinese guy, too?

"One year ago, I was humbled to receive the Nobel Peace Prize -- an award that speaks to our highest aspirations, and that has been claimed by giants of history and courageous advocates who have sacrificed for freedom and justice."

“I think I am a real nice person. If he had come and knocked on my door, I probably would have opened it. That’s the kind of person I am. I like to laugh. I like to joke. I am a soft-hearted person.”

She dialed 911. Two days later the RCMP made an arrest.

[via reader jo]

FROM THE NATPO COMMENTS:

"Call for a cop, call for an ambulance, call for a pizza -- see which shows up first. When is she going to be charged with assault?"

**********

RELATED: The first thing we do...

...is hang all the lawyers...

-- VANCOUVER -- Eric Kirkpatrick was “highly compromised” by his epilepsy medication and not thinking clearly when he shot his boss several timeswith a shotgun, the accused killer’s lawyer told a jury Thursday.

“He had no plan to kill Ben Banky. He liked Ben Banky a lot. He respected him. They shared the same values.”

09 December 2010

An extensive search of the WikiLeaks database by the Guardian by date, name and keyword failed to locate any of the incendiary allegations. It suggests this is the first case of WikiLeaks being exploited for propaganda purposes.

“I find that [Mohamed] Harkat has engaged in terrorism, that he is a danger to the security of Canada and that he is a member of the Bin Laden Network,” Justice Simon Noel writes in a decision released Thursday.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Remember when Mr. Harkat made a show of cutting off his GPS ankle monitor? The male part of his crowd of supporters screamed "Allahu Akbar" while Mr. Harkat snipped away."

**********

RELATED: Live & don't learn

The CSIS agents wanted to know how the Khadrs managed to travel between Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Yemen, Syria and Canada during the late 1990s, with no apparent means of support other than their work for Islamic charities.

Mayor Rob Ford’s campaign to stop the “gravy train” scored a small but tasty $48,000 victory.

Toronto city council voted Wednesday to scrap snacks and beverages for councillors during all meetings for the next four years.

And, heck... let's put this "victory" in the context of what usually happens in the center of the universe...

Three councillors tried and failed to get council to add them to their committees of choice.

Mihevc wanted to add himself to the TTC by creating a new commissioner position. Coun. Glenn De Baeremaeker wanted to create an extra seat on the Toronto Zoo board for himself while Counc. John Filion failed in his bid to create an extra seat on the planning committee so he could serve there.

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THANK YOU COMMENT MODERATION:

"he want spend untold BILLIONS and BILLIONS on a subway up where much less even need it."Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 2:15 PM, December 09, 2010

"Haper and crew decided to fuck toronto up the ass. You're quite simply, an asshole."Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 2:19 PM, December 09, 2010

Hahahahahahahahaha! Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 8:20 PM, December 10, 2010

Hahahahahahahahaa!Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 9:08 PM, December 10, 2010

The state of Wisconsin has gone an entire deer hunting season without someone getting killed. That’s great. There were over 600,000 hunters.

Allow me to restate that number. Over the last two months, the eighth largest army in the world – more men under arms than Iran; more than France and Germany combined – deployed to the woods of a single American state to help keep the deer menace at bay.

But that pales in comparison to the 750,000 who are in the woods of Pennsylvania this week. Michigan’s 700,000 hunters have now returned home.

Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia, and it is literally the case that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

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COMPARE & CONTRAST: The other Toronto bluesfest

“It appears to be a self-inflicted wound that entered his middle thigh and exited his knee,” Staff Sgt. Ron Boyce said. “It’s kind of odd, that downward pattern.”

Police said the man ditched his gun and isn’t cooperating with the investigation. He refuses to admit he shot himself. But Boyce is confident they have their man and that the two men who shot him don’t actually exist.

08 December 2010

I thought I knew all about the fiasco surrounding the aboriginal occupation of Caledonia, Ontario. I was wrong.

Just finished reading Christie Blatchford's book and it's full of interesting stuff that never hit the mainstream news.

She also talks about getting on Julian Fantino's bad side...

"I had also committed what counts as a cardinal sin in the Fantino book of rules. I had mentioned in a column - it was about a court case involving McHale and Fantino and the appearance of fairness - that Fantino's son Gregory had recently been appointed by the McGuinty government as a justice of the peace, a job that pays $114,000 a year."